Purpose of White Paper: VoiceThread is an online environment where pictures and videos can be viewed and commented on by other users. People can post an item online, be it a video or still picture. Then they can record an audio track description of the image. They can alternatively record a textual description. While they are recording an audio track, they have the ability to use graphical tools to mark up the image. These markups are time sensitive, and will stay around only so long. So, a person can mark up multiple items in a single image, without confusion, because there should only be a few of the markups on the screen at a given time.
Once the item is posted and shared, any other person can access this image and make similar responses to it. This is a good way to share knowledge with peers, or conduct a discussion about an image.
Why is this topic relevant to ESOL professionals: Because of the communicative component, students can be asked to talk about many different kinds of items. Teachers can post pictures on their page and share them with students. They could then require the students to comment on certain numbers of the pictures, using different kinds of skills. Similarly, students could post their own pictures, making their own comments and share with their peers. There are a myriad of opportunities for students to demonstrate different kinds of productive language skills with real media that they've either created, or discovered on the web.
How to register:
Go to http://www.voicethread.com/
Click on "Sign in or Register"
Click on "Register"
Fill in your name once, your chosen e-mail address twice and your "password" twice. You choose the password you want to use.
How to use:
First you can upload a picture, or link to a picture (or video) that you have on a web page somewhere. Then you click on the record button (a red circular button, like many older style VCRs). When you do this, you can record a description of the video. While you are recording, there is a color wheel that you can click on to choose the color of your pencil, and you can use your mouse to mark up parts of the picture that you are talking about. When you are done with this, you can decide how to share the picture.
The narration/doodling features are similar when you are working with video, except that you can either play or pause the video during the narration.
Developed by TESOL Technology Advisory Committee (TAC)
Topic: VoiceThread
URL: http://www.voicethread.com/
Purpose of White Paper: VoiceThread is an online environment where pictures and videos can be viewed and commented on by other users. People can post an item online, be it a video or still picture. Then they can record an audio track description of the image. They can alternatively record a textual description. While they are recording an audio track, they have the ability to use graphical tools to mark up the image. These markups are time sensitive, and will stay around only so long. So, a person can mark up multiple items in a single image, without confusion, because there should only be a few of the markups on the screen at a given time.
Once the item is posted and shared, any other person can access this image and make similar responses to it. This is a good way to share knowledge with peers, or conduct a discussion about an image.
O'Reilly thinks the idea of VoiceThread is elegant in its simplicity. The ease at which people can add comments to pictures, makes it feel like you are right there sharing the picture with them. (http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/04/the-human-voice-around-photogr.html)
Why is this topic relevant to ESOL professionals: Because of the communicative component, students can be asked to talk about many different kinds of items. Teachers can post pictures on their page and share them with students. They could then require the students to comment on certain numbers of the pictures, using different kinds of skills. Similarly, students could post their own pictures, making their own comments and share with their peers. There are a myriad of opportunities for students to demonstrate different kinds of productive language skills with real media that they've either created, or discovered on the web.
How to register:
Go to http://www.voicethread.com/
Click on "Sign in or Register"
Click on "Register"
Fill in your name once, your chosen e-mail address twice and your "password" twice. You choose the password you want to use.
How to use:
First you can upload a picture, or link to a picture (or video) that you have on a web page somewhere. Then you click on the record button (a red circular button, like many older style VCRs). When you do this, you can record a description of the video. While you are recording, there is a color wheel that you can click on to choose the color of your pencil, and you can use your mouse to mark up parts of the picture that you are talking about. When you are done with this, you can decide how to share the picture.
The narration/doodling features are similar when you are working with video, except that you can either play or pause the video during the narration.
Below are Voicethread examples of each of these features.
Voicethread on what it is and how to use it. http://voicethread.com/#q.b409.i3113
Voicethread on what "doodling" is. http://voicethread.com/#q.b711.i61849
Voicethread on what "videodoodling" is. This allows doodling on a video, either while it is moving or during a pause. http://voicethread.com/#q.b21651.i122786
Voicethread on telephone commenting - a neat feature that allows you to control your commenting by phone, like a remote control for your computer.
Voicethread on comment moderation. http://voicethread.com/#q.b718.i91562
This Voicethread is a sample of how one might use it in a classroom. http://voicethread.com/#q.b9973.i70225
This Voicethread is a neat example of how a story could be narrated using many voices and pictures. http://voicethread.com/#q.b45155.i236192